EastCoastGuy

Oh man, I've GOT to see that!

Well hello Neighbor! Just noticed you're in Charlottesville (go Cavaliers!) I'm in the Fredericksburg area. Yeah, the past few days have really sucked weather-wise. We got hit in that Friday night storm that left a million people across the state without power on a 100-degree-plus weekend. Thankfully we were only out for a day.

There's also Sandspit Airport, down in BC south of the "real" map, although the VOR/DME shows up on our map. (114.1) Nice place -- along with the VOR equipment, it even has a radio tower and a large fuel tank -- but no runways. Weird... http://skyvector.com...andspit-Airport

Speaking of seaplane bases, I've been to a number of them with the Icon, and they REALLY need some updating. This applies to most I've found so far: There's nothing there. No nearby cabins, boat dock, nothing. No missions?? C'mon! Even a burger run would be better than nothing. Plus we need a real seaplane to go with it. The Icon is fine for a couple short runs, but the seaplane bases really need more work.

Sorry, I was too busy screaming in terror and trying to stay alive! :LMAO:

Midgets. :LMAO:

Delfina said today that there are Alaska daily aerocaches on the way.

I think the low price was the biggest surprise. I have a sneaking suspicion MS (maybe reluctantly?) decided to keep the price low to keep people coming back even with the lack of cockpits. But if they want to keep people, they've GOT to get more VC aircraft in there!

I used the mouse exclusively when I started, and liked it most of the time. It's great for precision flying or landings, but useless for aerobatics & dogfighting. I've since bought an Extreme 3D Pro joystick and like that a lot better, being much more realistic... though I'm still getting used to the feel while landing.

Also, I found out that the fuel pumps in the Maule don't work as I'd expected. One time, I took off with 100% fuel (full mains and reserves) and decided to experiment with the pumps. After a few minutes, I turned them on -- they refilled the mains just fine -- but then (apparently) proceeded to pump the rest overboard. After 20 minutes, I was down to 80% fuel. So "turning the pumps on then ignoring them" would be a bad plan on a long trip. :Doh:

A few of my first Alaska images... First -- Aloha Hawaii. Tight valley, challenging landing coming through the gorge and over the trees. But be careful where you park, lest someone spawn underneath you! 500+ airports to land at, and what do people do? Play "King of the Hill" on the VOR equipment, of course! ... or land on top of the nearest building ... We found one REALLY strange anomaly (though I can't remember exactly where at the moment). There's a HUGE rectangular hole in the ground, maybe a quarter mile across, around 1,000 feet deep. Folks were actually flying down into it to try to land on the bottom (nobody succeeded yet).

Cockpits -- exactly the same ones we had before... we definitely need more. Airfield placement -- $15 worth. Missions -- curious that they didn't develop any for Alaska. Aerocaches -- none for Alaska yet. Snow effects -- again, $15 worth. I think Alaska is a "stay of execution" rather than a death knell. But more than anything else, Flight desperately needs new VC aircraft, and fast. The Flight team should make delivering VC aircraft their #1 priority over the coming months.

That's becoming really annoying on a too-frequent basis. A LOT of the smaller strips out there have the same problem. I approached one with PAPI lights today, and if would have been impossible to follow the glide slope due to the trees..

You can get freeware called FRAPS that will tell you your FPS and record videos of your session. See the download tab at http://www.fraps.com/

What I like so far: Terrain. Many different types, textures, etc. Seasons. Finally bored with how that pass looks in summer? Now explore it in fall, winter, etc. Or winter daytime. Or nighttime. Many different iterations for existing terrain. Airports. Googobs of 'em. Oh hell yeah! :dance: And if city X doesn't look exactly as it does in real life... give a rip. To me, as long as it looks city-ish, I'm good. Did my first mission flying a Clandestine Cargo from Adak to whatever that next one over is, 90nm worth, at night. In variable weather. 22,000 XP for one mission! :Party:

The Cub is cute in a homely "too bad you're not a real aircraft with a cockpit" sort of way. Fun to play with though. Somebody mentioned that if you look from F11 view and adjust it, you can see over the back of the pilot's head that the instruments are actually there in the aircraft, including a GPS. BUT... take a closer look at that GPS -- it's the same useless one from the Icon, and it's currently looking at the Hilo area. I too would like a little more contrast around the flat grey airstrips to make them stand out a little more, like a grungy border around them or something that looks semi-realistic. I did find one actual error on one of the north coast airfields... at Point Thompson Sea Ice Airstrip (AA50), there's nothing there. In summer texture, it's just one large open field for miles around. In winter texture, it's just one snow-covered field for miles around.

Yeah, but it seems the passengers never like them.

Terrific! This'll really some in handy in Alaska!

1 - Love it. 2 - An uncounted number of seaplane ports... and none of them have missions?? I've checked about a dozen so far. C'mon guys! "Pick up Joe Blow and fly him over to seaplane port X" isn't that hard to do. Hell, I'd even accept a couple standard burger runs until you get something more meaningful in there.

Kid... Candy Store... 'Nuff said... LATER! :Party: :dance: :yahoo:

I have no clue what the lyrics are, but for some reason, I envision that as the music that's playing after you have a mid-air with someone and are fluttering to the ground in flames. :lol: (Having said that, I hope it's not something religious they're singing!)

^ Especially the "Mixed" weather. Hurricane force winds over Upolu are fun at first, but every time I load it? (Then again, as Alaska is so big, it might be along time before I get bored with some local weather setting.) Another weird effect of weather in multi-user sessions...Someone will mention going through a thick cloud bank, and those a mile behind him won't even see it until they reach the same point.

More like another Keystone Cops episode from the dev team.

Even better... go ahead and take her along for the Great White Hunter adventure... but only give her blanks. :Devil: I can hear it now... BLAM! Ooooh darn! BLAM! Oooooh darn again! BLAM BLAM BLAM! Golly, those are tough little suckers! :LMAO: *BLINK* Oh, I am SO not going there!

Yeah, they'd better. With all the silliness in this thread, we might all be headed for the booby hatch! :crazy: